Chitwan Rhinos and Biratnagar Titans pull off first wins of campaign
KATHMANDU: Chitwan Rhinos and Biratnagar Titans have registered their first victories of the ongoing Namaste Pokhara Premier League T20 cricket tournament in Pokhara Metropolis on Wednesday.
Paras Khadka's Chitwan Rhinos thrashed Dipendra Singh Airee's Expert Dhangadhi by a wide margin of 126 runs today.
Biratnagar Titans, skippered by young leggie Sandeep Lamichanne, virtually out of the playoff contention, managed to muster a comfortable victory over table topper Butwal Blasters by 12 runs.
Earlier, in the first match of the day, Dhangadhi won the toss and invited Rhinos to take the first strike where they accumulated challenging total of 193/5 in their allotted 20 overs. However, in reply, Dhangadhi was folded for a meagre 67 runs all out inside 17 overs capitulating 126 runs victory to Rhinos.
Rhinos opening batsman Harishankar Sah top scored with 53 runs off just 33 deliveries with six fours and three maximum. Dhangadhi's bowlers Manjeet Shrestha, Yogendra Singh Karki, Dan Lawrence and skipper Airee all took a wicket each.
In reply, Dhangadhi run chase began in the worst fashion possible as their openers Dilip Nath and Dan Lawrence returned to pavilion for noughts in early overs.
Foreign English recruit Peter Trego top scored with 27 runs off 21 balls with three fours and a six. None of the other top five batsmen managed to reach double-digit runs.
Sunny Patel bamboozled opposition batting order with his magical leg break with an impressive figure of 3.1-0-8-4. He was awarded the Man-of-the-match for his scintillating performance.
In the second match of the day, Biratnagar Titans rode on Muhammad Zaid's blistering 72 runs to beat Butwal Blasters by 12 runs despite Bhim Sharki fighting half-century.
Pradeep Singh Airee contributed a measured 41 runs off 43 balls with three fours. Lalit Bhandari was the pick of the bowler with two wickets while Bipin Khatri, Samsad Sheikh and Sagar Pun chipped in with a wicket each.
In reply, Butwal Blasters managed to score 128 runs 12 short of their target failing to record a third consecutive win of the campaign.
Skipper Lamichanne and Kishore Mahato shared four wickets between them before Shahab Alam and Sunil Dhamala bagged a wicket each to halt Blasters winning streak.
Later, Zaid was adjudged as man of the match for his flamboyant innings.
Meanwhile, Butwal Blasters top the six-team table with four points from three games.
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